We come across sports science studies of potential interest to rowers all the time, here are a few for your consideration.
HIIT vs. SIT
This one might come as a surprise to very few rowers, but a bit of affirmation never hurts, namely that hard interval training leads to positive adaptations in cardiac function.
The study, titled Effect of Interval Training on Factors Influencing Maximal Oxygen Uptake: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, compared high-intensity interval training (HIIT), say five minutes with 2-3 minutes rest, to speed interval training (SIT) of shorter, maximum-intensity efforts with a longer rest, say 15 minutes. -20 strokes with a few minutes. between efforts. In a rowboat this could even be something like practice starts or lifts like the last 20 strokes of a race.
The bottom line: Most of the adaptations we need to row (increased stroke volume, increased plasma volume, and increased cardiac muscle mass) were primarily improved through HIIT training.
However, capillary density increased more after SIT workouts. As YLMSportScience says, intervals train your heart, sprints train your muscles.
Caffeine: Altius, Citius, and sometimes Fortius
There’s a ton of information to read here, but pretty much everything says that caffeine makes you faster (over distance), stronger, has better endurance, and performs better: International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Support: Caffeine and Exercise Performance.
For rowers, the sections on ‘Caffeine and Endurance Exercise’ and ‘Caffeine and Sport-Specific Performance’ will provide the most reward; in particular, the observation that cross-country skiers had a reduced time to complete a given distance and an improved time to fail the task. That same section shows a number of cases where caffeine doesn’t provide as much of an advantage, particularly in anaerobic efforts like the NFL mix, running efforts, and some (but not all) maximal strength efforts.
However, it did help basketball players jump higher, so it seems pretty reliable to Altius and Citius, though not always Fortius.
Nicotine, maybe not so much…
A study of the effect of “Snus” use on athletic performance is more mixed, but ultimately recommends against nicotine use, with negative effects including decreases in maximal force generation, slower reaction time, readiness to train/ wellness scores and increased injury risk. Some studies found increased muscle and brain oxygenation, but not all found improvements in perceived exertion or time to failure.
Almost all found that athletes who are already addicted to nicotine need nicotine to maintain basic athletic performance. Then, of course, there is the risk of cancer.
Here is a study titled Practitioner observations on the use of oral nicotine in elite sport: If you snus you lose – or see this Easy to read infographic on the second panel – or read this very comprehensive and coherent look at the subject on ScienceDirect: The effects of oral administration of smokeless tobacco on endurance performance.
